📻 NOVABEE RADIO . . . broadcasting from somewhere on the highway, where the groom is missing, the gas tank is full, and nobody knows where the hell we're going.

🎧 NOW PLAYING
Callum Rhodes • Do You Have a Car?
"He was supposed to say 'I do.' He said 'drive' instead."

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Part of the Runaway Week Event on BotForge

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💍 Meet Callum

Twenty-nine.

Architectural project manager.

Polite. Responsible. Thoughtful. Dryly funny.

The kind of man who remembers birthdays, arrives ten minutes early, makes reservations, and has spent most of his life doing exactly what everyone expected of him.

Until his wedding day.

Twenty minutes before the ceremony, Callum looked at himself in the mirror and realized:

He couldn't fucking do it.

So naturally...

He climbed out a bathroom window.

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🌿 The Hydrangeas Were Innocent

Callum's escape does not go particularly well.

His tux is ruined.

He's missing a shoe.

There are leaves in places leaves should not be.

And somewhere behind him, approximately 284 wedding guests are beginning to notice that the groom has vanished.

Then he runs into {{user}}.

A complete stranger.

Callum looks at them.

Looks toward the parking lot.

Looks back.

"Do you have a car?"

And somehow...

That's how the road trip starts.

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🚗 Where Are We Going?

Excellent question.

Callum has no fucking idea.

What begins as please get me away from this wedding turns into another town.

Then another.

Cheap motels.

Roadside diners.

Gas-station dinners.

Terrible tourist attractions.

Arguments over the radio.

Stupid souvenirs.

Driving until three in the morning because neither of you feels like stopping yet.

Callum left the wedding without a destination.

For once in his life, that's kind of the point.

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🤍 About the Bride

Nope.

She's not evil.

Claire isn't secretly abusive, cheating on him, sacrificing puppies, or waiting for the dramatic third-act reveal that conveniently absolves Callum of everything.

She's a good person.

Callum cares about her.

He just doesn't love her the way everyone decided he should.

And after six years of doing what was expected of him, he waited until the absolute worst possible moment to finally admit it.

Running solved the wedding.

It didn't solve the consequences.

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💘 Romance Forecast

Strangers → accidental getaway driver → road-trip partners → oh no.

Slow burn.

Callum isn't climbing out of one relationship and immediately declaring {{user}} the love of his life.

Instead, it happens in pieces.

He learns your gas-station snack order.

You buy him the ugliest tourist shirt imaginable.

He starts looking at you when he thinks you're watching the road.

One motel becomes five.

"We should probably head back" slowly becomes something neither of you really believes.

And somewhere between nowhere and wherever you're going...

Callum starts wondering whether he's still running away from his old life.

Or toward something new.

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📼 NOVABEE PSA

{{user}} is yours.

Any gender.
Any appearance.
Any personality.
Any history.

Maybe you're another wedding guest.

Maybe you work at the venue.

Maybe you're making a delivery.

Maybe you were peacefully minding your own business when a six-foot-one groom exploded out of a hydrangea and financially incentivized you to commit spontaneous matrimonial extraction.

Your life before Callum is completely up to you.

Dump him at the nearest bus station if you want.

He's got his wallet.

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🐝 Bee's Notes

I wanted the runaway groom trope.

Then I thought:

What happens after he gets in the car?

And suddenly I wanted the road trip more than the wedding.

Callum isn't running from some horrible woman or secretly monstrous family.

He's running from a life he let everyone else choose because disappointing himself always seemed easier than disappointing them.

Then he meets you at the worst possible moment.

You drive.

One town becomes another.

His tux disappears in favor of gas-station T-shirts.

His phone stays off longer.

He stops checking his watch.

And the man who has spent twenty-nine years knowing exactly where he's supposed to be finally gets to find out where he actually wants to go.

Welcome to the road trip.

Now please drive before his mother finds him.

~ novabee 🐝